


Wedding Bells

by Camelabrakedabra



Series: Unfavourable Love [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Affairs, M/M, Marriage, includes seungcheol and unnamed character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 01:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11430126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camelabrakedabra/pseuds/Camelabrakedabra
Summary: There were probably hundreds of reasons why they weren't meant to get married. Above all, though, Seungcheol guessed that the biggest problem was that he was more interested in their wedding planner than his bride. It was too much to be getting married to someone who wanted the world when there was someone who was happy with the minimal.





	1. A Matter of Wife and Debt

There were a number of things that Seungcheol could blame for the inevitable breakdown of his relationship. 

The foundation on which they built it on wasn't great, for starters. They had met at a family friend's funeral and she had asked him to go for coffee with her two days later. He had expected it just to be grieving together, since she was a cousin of the deceased and they were similarly close to him, but they had rushed into a relationship less than a week later. It was a time of heightened emotions and definitely not a good time to start anything romantic, but it happened nonetheless and frankly Seungcheol enjoyed having someone there when he was feeling so fragile.

Then there was the proposal. She had been hinting it for weeks, even going so far as to get her parents to enquire about it. They had been together for two years at that point, but as much as he loved her, he hadn't really considered asking for her hand in marriage for at least another year or two. Seungcheol was twenty one years old at the time, whilst she was only twenty, and it seemed to be way too soon to be planning on making things permanent. Yet, he felt pressured. The constant hinting from her and the direct questioning from her parents was enough to make him feel obliged, and eventually he just gave in. It was just fast tracking something that was inevitably going to happen anyway, he figured, so it worked out to get it over and done with.

 _Then_ there was the need for children. Seungcheol knew right from the start that she wanted to have children with him. He knew that he wanted to have children in the future, too. But it was definitely something that he wanted to put off for now. He was doing relatively well in his career so far, having opted to work in his father's business from the age of eighteen rather than go to university. It was somewhat unheard of, but he had managed to progress relatively well in the business so far and didn't really want to ruin that by rushing into starting a family. Besides, there was plenty of time to do that once they had both established their careers and had settled down properly, and so he was hoping to stand by his feelings on that aspect of their relationship.

Yet, there they were three months into their engagement, actively planning their wedding and trying for a baby. Seungcheol was under an incredible amount of stress, more than he had ever been before in his life, and it was the last situation he needed to be in at that moment in time. It was already in the process, though, and he had made a promise to himself that he wouldn't back out of something that was already happening, so that was where they were heading and he wasn't prepared to do anything about it.

It was probably the worst basis for a relationship that he could've possibly imagined.

Seungcheol pretended that it wasn't a huge deal, though, and took it upon himself to make it the best wedding possible. After all, he did still really love her and wanted to maintain their relationship, even if the planning was causing him a lot of stress. He figured that every relationship had some hiccups and tension and rough times here and there, so it wasn't something that couldn't be sorted out.

He made sure to throw himself into it fully, even going so far as to finalise a date for the wedding just days after they agreed to get married in the first place. Admittedly, they were rushing into it a bit with a relatively short two month engagement, but his fiancee had requested that they get a wedding planner to help them to get everything arranged within their time constraints. They probably wouldn't be able to do it on their own whilst maintaining full-time jobs, and besides, the planner was the child of her mother's friend. They offered a reduced price for helping them out and even offered to get to know them both a lot better in order to provide more personal help, and Seungcheol quickly found that he couldn't turn the offer down in the end.

They had arranged for the three of them to meet for coffee one weekend early on in the process. Seungcheol had his preconceptions about the planner from everything that his fiancee had told him about them, and he was rather excited to meet the other person. They weren't incredibly close, but at the same time they had spent enough time together whilst they were growing up to able to click instantly as soon as they met. Apparently, though, Seungcheol's fiancee had missed out a few little details about the planner when discussing them, as the person who turned up was a young man in a shirt and wool blend trousers, with caramel hair reaching just below his shoulders.

Seungcheol was surprised to say the least. He couldn't say anything whilst he was there, but he had expected the wedding planner to be a girl from the way that he had been described. Yet, there he was; a twenty one year old man who went by the name of Yoon Jeonghan, who had been working as an assistant wedding planner since he left school and was recently trained to consult and plan weddings independently.

"I didn't think you'd take it well if you found out that a man was assisting us," she told him when they got home.  
"Why would you think that?" Seungcheol asked, but she was quick to avoid the question by instead asking him what he thought about Jeonghan. If he was being honest, Jeonghan clearly knew how to do his job and was willing to go the extra mile to ensure that their wedding ran as smoothly as possible, so he didn't exactly have a problem with him doing his job, but the sigh of relief that his fiancee gave when he told her left him confused.  
"I just didn't think you'd like the fact that he's... Well, you know, he's--"  
"He's what?"  
" _Gay_."

As much as Seungcheol could pretend that it didn't change things between him and Jeonghan when they met without his fiancee, it was a lie to say that he looked at him in the same way. No, he wasn't bothered by the fact that their wedding planner was attracted to men, and he certainly didn't take the immediate assumption that Jeonghan would be attracted to him. He was a client who was engaged to be married, and even if Jeonghan _was_ attracted to him, he was certain that he wouldn't say anything about it. It wasn't exactly his place to do so, plus his personal relationship with Seungcheol's fiancee would probably stop him even if nothing else did.

Rather, he found himself unable to stop himself from asking questions instead. How many boyfriends had he had? Had he ever dated a girl? Was he currently in a relationship? Had he ever fallen for any of the grooms? It was somewhat acceptable to be asking some questions, seeing as they were spending a fair amount of time outside of professional hours getting to know each other better, but at points Seungcheol found himself worrying about how close he was toeing the line of getting too personal.

Despite everything, though, Jeonghan was always sweet with him. None of his questions were left unanswered, even the questions that left Seungcheol cringing and apologising from the moment they passed his lips. They would always be approached in the same way; with a shy laugh from Jeonghan as he glanced down at the table in front of them, making sure that his hair was tucked neatly behind his ear, and then giving the answer that Seungcheol was looking for. As much as the groom found himself asking stupid questions, Jeonghan made sure to promise not to tell his fiancee that he'd been asking such things, even though the sessions were supposed to be centred around _him_ asking the questions to get to know _Seungcheol_ better.

He supposed that it worked out in the end, since they ended up getting to know a lot more about each other from those little intimate details. Jeonghan's professionalism had dropped a bit whenever they had the opportunity to chat, although it was obvious that it was down to the fact that he was personally familiar with Seungcheol's bride and not something that he would usually do with a client. He'd presented a string of questions in return, from asking if Seungcheol was marrying his first love, to asking if he'd ever considered dating anyone else in their time together.

If it were anyone else, Seungcheol wouldn't have answered.

It was unusual with Jeonghan, though. The nature of their back and forth questioning was tinted with genuine curiosity, and Seungcheol was sure that by their third time of meeting, he had told the wedding planner some things that he hadn't even considered talking to his fiancee about. Their conversations touched over details of the things in his life that he was most grateful for, his greatest values in friendships, and the memories about his most embarrassing moment, amongst other things.

Seungcheol was almost scared by how quickly they'd managed to bond. It was one of those friendships that moved incredibly fast and almost felt as if they were always meant to have met and become close. In fact, if it hadn't been for his fiancee pushing it, Seungcheol could have probably forgotten about the wedding completely. It had stopped being a topic of conversation when they were getting to know each other, and honestly he was coming to believe that Jeonghan was meeting him a lot more than he was meeting his bride. Within around a month or so, the wedding planner was getting to be like the best friend that Seungcheol had never really had, and as much as he tried to distance himself and keep that professional relationship, it was getting increasingly difficult to get away from spending most of their time outside of work together.

A part of him wanted to keep that relationship a secret, though. It was an unusual side to him that he hadn't even considered before; an almost irrational side, if he was being honest. Of course his bride was aware of the fact that Seungcheol and Jeonghan were spending a lot of time together whilst she wasn't there, but at the same time, Seungcheol didn't always _want_ her to know about it. It wasn't something that he could hide entirely, but he found that the closer to the wedding it got, the more vague he was getting to be when she asked him what they spoke about on any given day. It was passed off as being a way to surprise her with the fine-tuned details of the wedding, as suggested by Jeonghan, and luckily the excuses seemed to work relatively well.

Finally, it got to just a month before the wedding. A lot had happened leading up to that point, with the vast majority of the plans having already been arranged. Most of the attire, hair and make up were sorted early on in the planning process for both Seungcheol and his bride, and for the most part, Jeonghan had managed to help them get the more unique details arranged. Whilst it was customary to have a short wedding with no reception, they had agreed on bringing a Western flair to the arrangement in which they were due to spend the afternoon of their wedding day with close friends and family.

They had handmade, handwritten invitations and had arranged the colour scheme and room decorations themselves. Frankly, it was more effort than it was probably worth, especially seeing as they had well over four hundred guests in total, but Seungcheol supposed that at least it looked visually appealing. He was particularly thankful for Jeonghan's help when it came to making everything that needed to be made, since the extra pair of hands helped to make the process a lot quicker, but he quickly found that the wedding planner had similar feelings to him about it.

He tried not to talk about it, but it ended up coming up one afternoon when they were in the process of making countless table decorations. Seungcheol's fiancee had gone out to finalise the plans with the caterer, since she was particularly passionate about the food and wanted it to be the most impressive part of the entire ceremony, so he and Jeonghan were left at their house to finish up what they could. It had ended up with jokes about how their guests probably weren't going to notice or care, although Jeonghan tried to keep his opinions capped as much as possible as not to end up getting too opinionated on the subject. He did point out, though, that the wedding was probably one of the biggest that he'd seen in the three years that he'd been helping out with wedding planning for couples who wanted something more niche, but he was leaving it to Seungcheol to interpret whether that was a good thing or not.

Admittedly, Seungcheol would have much preferred to skip over that sort of thing, but seeing as his fiancee really wanted something showy, he wasn't prepared to reject her. The jokes had, however, eventually turned to complaints by around a fortnight before the wedding. He had voiced the concerns to Jeonghan whilst they were trying on his suit at a tailors shop, and only then did the wedding planner speak up about his genuine feelings over the ceremony. "I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries here, but I do think her head is in the clouds sometimes," Jeonghan admitted whilst he waited for Seungcheol to get into the suit, "Three month engagements usually aren't that hard for me to help arrange, but she seemed to want more than was possible in the time allowed."  
"I love her, but sometimes she doesn't think," Seungcheol told him with a sigh, without saying much else on the topic from that point onwards.

As much as it felt cruel to talk about his future wife in that sort of manner, he couldn't help himself. The more it was brought to his attention, the worse it was becoming. The more he thought about it, the more stressed out he was becoming, too.

In his opinion, they could have probably done perfectly well with plain ivory invitations and a simple ceremony in a wedding hall with everything planned already. It didn't matter to him whether there were other people getting married in the same hall at the same time, and he didn't really care whether they were rushed out of there. It meant that they could get it all over and done with within an hour or two, then get on with packing ready for their honeymoon. That was where he wanted to be able to go all out; at that point, it would just be the two of them on their way to Florida for three weeks. A long honeymoon was preferable in comparison to a long wedding, as far as Seungcheol was concerned, since they could enjoy themselves a lot more without having to worry about the stress of the ceremony.

Instead, though, they were having a church wedding with a meal arranged in a private hall. Neither were particularly religious, but his bride had decided that she wasn't fond of the idea of sharing her wedding hall with other brides, especially if there was a chance of them having a similar dress style to herself. She was always the sort to want to have all eyes on herself, so only the best wedding would really suit her.

It was unfortunate really, seeing as her parents had wanted something very traditional for their youngest daughter, but Seungcheol couldn't really argue against her wishes in the end. She had even decided to bring the Western idea of hen and stag nights into it too, which certainly upset her family since they didn't particularly want her to be drinking alcohol the night before the wedding. Yet, Seungcheol quickly found that that was the most agreeable part of the entire arrangement in the end. It was the opportunity for him to spend a stress-free night away from the responsibilities that came alongside being a groom, so he was absolutely down for having a night at a nearby bar.

He actually found himself relieved when his male friends and relatives politely declined the offer to spend the evening before the wedding in a bar outside of town. In fact, the only person to agree to go with him in the end was Jeonghan, and Seungcheol was pleasantly surprised by the fact that they would be able to spend time together as two friends without any need to discuss the wedding.

He had even made a point of booking a hotel room for both of them to stay in for the night, as not to have to find other means of transport back into the city after a few drinks. They were due to travel back at around nine o'clock the following morning so that they could get ready for the wedding, then Seungcheol would travel to the venue with his bride as soon as they were dressed.

That was the smoothest planning process that had happened since he had agreed to get engaged to his future wife. Whilst she had gone away that afternoon to do specialist skincare with her sisters and mother, Seungcheol had spent most of his day relaxing before heading to the bar in the early evening.

It was a strange feeling to be going our with Jeonghan outside of the wedding plans and stress, but he quickly found that he was enjoying it more than anything. There was a huge difference, in his opinion, between meeting for coffee or consultations in the weeks leading up to the wedding, and meeting as friends outside of that. Admittedly, Seungcheol had expected that the wedding planner probably felt sorry for him and simply didn't want him to spend his final day of being a bachelor all on his own. It was therefore a surprise to have Jeonghan greet him so excitedly and genuinely want to share drinks with him, and if Seungcheol was being completely honest, he probably would have stopped drinking well before he did if it wasn't for the active encouragement from his new friend.

"I'm really appreciative for everything that you've done to help us," Seungcheol told him after a few hours straight of drinking. It wasn't something that he would usually consider telling someone who was simply doing his job, but he really was thankful for all of the help that they'd received. It wasn't just the main wedding details either; Jeonghan had helped to come up with some ideas based on what he had found out from his time getting to know them, too, which had subsequently reduced Seungcheol's stress over the course of the planning period.

Jeonghan had gone to reply. Seungcheol had seen the grin that had instantly illuminated Jeonghan's face as his eyes shifted to his lap in shyness. His lips had parted as he went to either thank him or brush the gratitude off, but Seungcheol's drunk mind had immediately made the ridiculous decision to lean forward and crush their lips together in a firm but chaste kiss.

He didn't know why he had done it. As far as he was aware, he wasn't even attracted to Jeonghan in the slightest. He wasn't even attracted to _men_ in the slightest. Yet, when he tried to pull away, he was instantly drawn back in by the sensation of Jeonghan kissing him back, and frankly he didn't really want to stop kissing him.


	2. The Main Reason for Divorce

Seungcheol had always prided himself on his ability to remain faithful to his partners right up until the end of their relationships.

He had, on occasion, dated girls who had tried to catch him out. Nothing big, but relatively irritating. There were times where they would encourage their sisters to flirt with him, or would get their friends to try to start something with him. It would never work, of course, whether he was aware of the fact that it was a test or not. If Seungcheol loved someone, that was it; he wouldn't even consider cheating their trust in any way or form.

As a result, he had completely surprised himself when he woke up on the morning of his wedding with Jeonghan laid next to him in his bed.

It was definitely not anything platonic. There were a few minutes in which he was disorientated and struggled to piece together what had happened the night before, but then it came flooding back to him all at once. They had somehow made it back to the hotel room at some ridiculous hour and had ended up barely making it into the room before their lips met again.

He had been the one to start it, too. He hadn't exactly intended on undressing Jeonghan down to his boxers and ending up rolling on the mattress with him as their kisses quickly grew heavier, but at the time it had felt completely right. His hands had touched over almost every inch of Jeonghan's body and vice versa. His lips had found home on Jeonghan's throat, and his back was left marked by Jeonghan's nails. Seungcheol could still feel the tingling sensation as he flexed his back muscles.

Yet, he also remembered falling asleep before anything too serious happened. He and Jeonghan both still had some clothing left on, so it hadn't quite gone as far as it could have. Just kissing and a bit of touching, from what he could recall. It was still something unfavourable. It was something that he would have never considered, and it was something that he hated about himself already. It was a moment of weakness, and it was something that he was certain would plague him for a long time.

Seungcheol made the decision to tell his bride as soon as they got back. He made sure to let Jeonghan know about the decision, too, and although he was rather nervous to have her find out about it, he agreed that it would be for the best. After all, it was going to end up coming out at some point during the wedding anyway; Jeonghan's neck was covered in purple bruises and he had absolutely shredded Seungcheol's back to ribbons with his nails. It was almost a given that she would end up getting incredibly upset about it and his and Jeonghan's mothers would probably be left to pick up the pieces left behind by what their sons did, but it would probably be worth it on a long-term basis.

They dressed in silence, but as soon as they left the hotel, Seungcheol couldn't help but slip one of his hands into Jeonghan's. He wasn't quite sure whether it was from nerves or whether it was more of a romantic gesture, but frankly he didn't really _want_ to know.

The journey back to their house was an uncomfortable one, all in all. The closer they got to Seungcheol's bride, the closer they were to telling her about their evening. He hoped that she would be alone in the house when they arrived, seeing as he didn't quite think an angry mother-in-law would really help the situation, and luckily that was the case as they entered the house.

"I was just about to get into my dress," she told them as they walked in together, "Would I be able to get some help with it please?" That was as good a time as any. Seungcheol figured that should she decide to terminate their relationship there and then, it would save the effort of having to get dressed up, plus it would probably leave him feeling less guilty to tell her what had happened if there wasn't that reminder that they were due to get married in a few hours. 

She seemingly caught on to the fact that something was wrong as her eyes flickered between her groom and friend, before asking if they needed to talk to her about something. There was no comment about the lovebites all over her friend's neck or the way that they were both acting relatively awkward, but she knew that there was _something_. Seungcheol made a point of inviting her to sit with them in the main room to discuss it, and she had immediately done what was asked of her.

Frankly, the explanation had gone down a lot better than Seungcheol imagined it would. He explained that it had just been a brief affair, a moment of weakness on his part, and he intended on taking full responsibility for his own mistakes. He had expected that she would get angry at them or start to cry, but rather she pressed a hand to his and told him that it was something they could work through as a couple. It wasn't a deal breaker as long as Seungcheol hadn't gained a sudden exclusive attraction to men, or so she said, and frankly she had some time just before they met where she experimented with girls. Experimentation was something that she could handle as long as Seungcheol promised to be completely faithful to her from that point, now that he knew there was no attraction to men.

There was the problem at hand, though. He hadn't even considered the fact that he _could_ be attracted to other men up until that point. He hadn't considered that another man would make him feel things that only women had in the past. He hadn't ever found a man who made him consider cheating before in his entire life, and it certainly wasn't just his drunk mind making stupid decisions, as he had woken up that morning with no difference in his feelings towards Jeonghan. He had been prepared to go all the way with him once they got back to the hotel room, and he sure as hell wasn't against it when he woke up to see the wedding planner in the bed next to him.

For a moment he considered telling her how he genuinely felt about the situation, but it just felt wrong to throw that onto her when she had brushed his mistake to one side as if it never happened in the first place. Instead, Seungcheol offered a little nod and allowed her to go and change with Jeonghan helping her, whilst he went to put his suit on.

He was glad to be alone whilst he was dressing, for the sole reason that he could be with his thoughts without having to worry about what anyone else thought about him. A little niggling part of him deep down thought that perhaps it would be a decent idea to run away with Jeonghan and try to start fresh with him as far away from his bride as possible, but frankly it wasn't possible and it was probably an even worse idea than his reluctant engagement.

They ultimately ended up travelling to the venue in complete silence, despite the fact that everyone claimed to be okay with being sat with each other. If nothing else, it made Seungcheol even more anxious for the wedding, and as time went on, he was realising more and more that he certainly wasn't ready to get married. He was growing to be painfully aware of the fact that he still had his entire life ahead of him and was essentially making a life-long decision to devote his entire being to one person for the rest of his time, and the more he thought about it, the more he was coming to realise that it was probably going to be a huge mistake.

His only relief from those thoughts came when Jeonghan sneakily grabbed for the hand closest to him, which was pressed on the car seat between them, and began to gently rub Seungcheol's palm with his thumb. It had come as a surprise, but was a pleasant one. There was something strangely comforting about being touched so gently and lovingly in a way that clearly had no ulterior motives outside of simply wanting to ensure that he was able to relax a bit.

Yet, he quickly found his mind drifting to other situations; ones in which he and _Jeonghan_ were to be marrying instead. There was something about it that made his heart skip a beat. As much as he loved his bride, the time that he had spent with Jeonghan had taught him that there were others out there who would treat him well without constantly wanting more. Three months certainly weren't long enough to be able to make the decision to _actually_ marry him, even if it were legal in Korea, but there was something surprisingly sweet about the way that his friend was going out of his way to comfort him. Seungcheol was certain that his bride hadn't even noticed his discomfort yet, which made it that bit more appealing to him as he continued letting his thoughts toy with the idea for the duration of the journey.

Eventually they got to the venue. It was a relief that his bride was made to stay in the reception area and spend time greeting and taking photographs with the guests as they arrived. Seungcheol didn't have those same responsibilities, so he made a point of walking around outside the church in hopes that it would calm his nerves.

It was probably the worst twenty minutes of his life, all in all. Calming himself down turned out to be a harder task than he had originally anticipated, and on more than one occasion he had considered running as far away as possible, so that by the time anyone had realised that he was missing, he would be long gone.

"Seungcheol?" a voice finally called out before he had the chance to act upon his plan. He span around on the spot to see Jeonghan stood a few metres away, but all he could do was let out a long breath and stare in his direction. "It's due to start in a few minutes," he pointed out with a hopeful smile, "They just sent me to make sure that you're okay. No one has seen you yet, so they were a bit worried that you had run away or something."

"I was considering it," he admitted. Saying it out loud left Seungcheol feeling somewhat vulnerable, but Jeonghan seemingly understood how he felt. He wasn't quite sure whether it was due to the fact that he had probably seen a few grooms getting cold feet in his time as a wedding planner or whether it was something more personal, but he was appreciative of the acknowledgement either way. Jeonghan slowly made his way forward so that he could offer a hug, and Seungcheol was quick to melt against him.

"I know this probably sounds ridiculous, but can I kiss you once more? Just before I ruin my chances of it ever happening again?" Seungcheol's words sounded ridiculous as they passed his lips, especially since his better judgement was telling him that his attempt at making a light-hearted joke had fallen completely flat. He immediately tried to find a way to take them straight back, using a string of apologies and excuses, but Jeonghan simply offered a fond smile as he drew back from the hug far enough to press their lips together for just a moment.

It was sweet and genuine, and frankly Seungcheol hadn't ever felt a kiss that left his stomach in knots like that before. He had thought that it was just a cliche little trope that was used to make stories of love sound more romantic, but when it actually happened to him, it was something else entirely.

He didn't particularly want to stop, but Jeonghan insisted on it. Apparently they needed to make their way through to the front of the church before his bride started to worry too much, and so he took Seungcheol's hand and led him back to where he needed to be.

Seeing his bride again was the anti-climax that he didn't need. It was a particular disappointment, seeing as she already seemed as if she was stressed enough to cry. He couldn't help but think about how it could've been avoided by having a simple wedding, but he made sure to bite his tongue and offer her a smile of encouragement instead of saying anything about it.

Walking through the church together was far from what he imagined a wedding should be like. There was an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his gut and a sense that something wasn't quite right. He had hoped more than anything that the thoughts would leave his head by the time they got there, but instead it was increasingly obvious that it wasn't right for him to be there as they grew closer to saying their vows. It came to his turn to speak, but the words simply caught in his throat and left him feeling like he was suffocating until he finally managed to stammer out a few weak words instead.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I can do this." 

There was stunned silence throughout the church. Seungcheol didn't really know what to do with himself, especially when his bride's eyes widened in horror. "What do you think you're doing?" she hissed as she squeezed his hands tightly, "Please don't make a scene in front of everyone."  
"Could we just talk somewhere privately for a moment please?"

Her face was hard and angry. Seungcheol absolutely regretted having to see that expression, especially after he'd tried so hard to keep her happy throughout their relationship so far. "Please?" he repeated, and she immediately grabbed led him back towards the reception area to the church. Seungcheol could feel the eyes of everyone they knew staring in either horror or anger at him as his bride tugged him towards privacy.

There was a fire burning in her eyes when she finally span around to face him. "Are you trying to ruin everything?" she demanded, but no time was given for Seungcheol to explain himself before she continued speaking. "I'm going to give you one chance. Either we go back in there and get this done without another word about this, or you go back in there alone and tell everyone that you've ruined the wedding."

There was no room for discussion. Seungcheol had had hundreds of things to say to her about his doubts, worries and feelings, but she wasn't in the mood for a discussion about it. He did feel sorry for her, to an extent, since it was obvious that she was incredibly stressed over the situation, but at the same time it went to show how little regard she genuinely had about him outside of her own needs and desires. The wedding had been her idea, blown up a lot bigger and significantly more stressful than it needed to be, and now that it hadn't run as smoothly as she had originally anticipated, it was all or nothing.

He found himself unable to choose either of her options immediately, and apparently that had been the final straw. She let out a low huff and stormed out of the church without another word, leaving Seungcheol stood in the reception area in complete silence.

Their guests had taken the news that the wedding was cancelled just as well as the bride did. Over the space of around forty minutes, Seungcheol was left apologising to each guest individually as he was hit with comments about how it was a waste of time attending and how he was probably one of the most insensitive grooms they had ever seen. It was a day of heightened emotions for the poor bride as it was, without having to deal with the fact that her groom was unable to commit to anything on top of everything.

It was quite possibly the most humiliating moment of his entire life. For some reason, a part of him had imagined that it would have gone a lot smoothly with mutual agreement that they could have probably put marriage off for another few months at the very least, but it was ultimately an unrealistic fantasy. If he were the bride, he figured that he would have probably had a similar reaction under those levels of stress.

"I sort of feel bad about the fact that you've paid so much for a wedding without having it actually go through," Jeonghan admitted as he made his way over. He had made sure to wait until everyone else had said what they had to say to Seungcheol before finally moving towards him, and he made sure to offer a little smile as he spoke in hopes that it would comfort him.  
"I suppose I deserve it after how I've treated her since we got engaged," Seungcheol admitted with a sigh, "She upset me a lot with this whole wedding thing, but she never did deserve to have the day ruined like this."

Jeonghan was absolutely perfect at comforting him. He made sure to let him know that if she walked out on him as soon as he showed signs of hesitance, perhaps she wasn't the right person to spend the rest of his life with anyway. Once Seungcheol had calmed down a bit, he made a point of inviting him to go out for something to eat with him; nothing too big and just as friends.

They ended up at a fast food restaurant no more than ten minutes later, still in their suits, and it was probably strikingly obvious to everyone who passed them that there was an uncomfortable story behind their attire and choice of place to eat. Both men ended up eating more food than they usually would, having figured that the abrupt termination of a long-term relationship was as good an excuse than any to go all out.

Seungcheol's mood raised significantly with each bite of food until he was finally laughing along with Jeonghan as his new friend described his own inability to maintain relationships for longer than a few months. He ended up telling some relatively interesting stories, including ones about how some of his previous boyfriends had used his hair length to make themselves seem heterosexual, and others where he had found out that particular boyfriends had been sending his explicit photos around to their friends.

It was just how relationships were, or so he said; things were never completely perfect, but each issue eventually became a learning curve. It was an example of what sort of person to avoid in the future, how to handle certain situations, and how to ultimately grow as a person in the long run.

Seungcheol was thankful for the support that he received from Jeonghan in the hours following the collapsed wedding. It would have probably been easy for him to lay blame on the groom, seeing as he was friends with the bride before they had even met, but he had simply claimed that Seungcheol needed that bit of support as much as his ex-fiancee did. There were hundreds of people to support her, since it was made to seem as if it was entirely his fault that everything fell to pieces around them, so Jeonghan was more than happy to support him instead.

That was one of the main reasons, in the end, why Seungcheol was more than happy to invite Jeonghan to spend the honeymoon period in Florida with him without feeling any guilt over it whatsoever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm determined to finish this fic before I go away for a month, so hopefully we can pop out the final chapter before Tuesday!!
> 
> Admittedly, this chapter has been one of the easiest that I've had to write in a long time and I'm really glad that it's working out pretty well. Personally, I see Seungcheol as being the sort to be absolutely, 100% committed to a person when he decides to dedicate such an important piece of his life to them, so it's a bit hard to see him in a sort of affair scenario, but honestly he seems like the sort to come clean as soon as he makes a mistake of any sort really, so I guess it sort of works out a bit??
> 
> Thank you for reading, and please feel free to leave any thoughts in the comments!! <3


	3. Now and Forever

Somehow, Seungcheol managed to change the name on the plane ticket and they were able to go on the honeymoon together. Jeonghan's manager hadn't been too happy with the short notice for taking time off but they had worked it out in the end, seeing as those little issues were like hills compared to the mountains of stress that had faced them during the wedding arrangement.

It had been somewhat awkward to start with when they arrived. They had made their way through to a beach resort that was supposed to be reserved for newlyweds on their honeymoon, and the staff had seemed somewhat surprised to see that two men had turned up to check into their cabin, although Seungcheol was relieved to find that there were no comments about it from anyone. He wasn't quite sure whether they had already caught onto the fact that he and Jeonghan weren't actually married, but it left him feeling self-conscious nonetheless.

As a result, he was absolutely relieved when Jeonghan decided to play along to spare the awkwardness of the situation. Seungcheol hadn't quite expected Jeonghan to have a moderate grasp of conversational English, especially seeing as the invitation to join him had been on such short notice, so he was rather impressed when Jeonghan immediately started to talk with the staff at the resort. It wasn't perfect and on occasion his choice of word was incorrect, but he was somehow able to pluck a story out of nowhere about how he and Seungcheol had met and fallen in love, which had resulted in a shotgun wedding. He had made the situation sound a lot more romantic than Seungcheol could have possibly imagined and frankly it was pretty convincing, as far as he was concerned.

Seungcheol made a point of bringing it up as soon as they were alone again, only to have Jeonghan grow shy over the situation. It took quite a lot of convincing for him to finally admit that he had come up with something and translated it so that he would be able to give a story that made them sound like an actual couple, but whilst he seemingly expected Seungcheol to be upset about the lies, he was honestly rather impressed by it. Personally, he wouldn't have even thought about coming up with a way to disguise his failed marriage under romanticised fiction, but it had worked and had ultimately turned out to sound rather impressive.

"It's up to you whether you'd like to act like a couple throughout this honeymoon, though," Jeonghan made sure to tell him once all of their belongings had been unpacked, "I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable by playing as a couple when we're just friends."

Just friends. Seungcheol was certain that he didn't want to jump straight into something permanent, but at the same time he wasn't exactly against having a casual relationship. Nothing with too many strings attached, where they were able to date other people on the side for a while until they both fully made the decision to get serious. It seemed like the ideal way to get away from a two year commitment in a way that still gave him that bit of support that a partner provided and gave him the chance to devote his affections to another person, but it would simultaneously mean avoiding the feeling of restriction that came alongside jumping between relationships.

He made the decision right there to ask Jeonghan for that type of arrangement after they had spent a few days seeing each other in a more romantic setting, having figured that his friend was the sort to enjoy that sort of thing. It gave enough time for both of them to see whether they could see anything happening between them in the future without having to worry about any external arrangements getting in the way, as well as providing a gradual build up to the point at which he asked.

It had taken a bit of thought, but Seungcheol gave Jeonghan his approval to continue the act of pretending to be married. If nothing else, it would probably give them the space to appreciate the little things about each other that they wouldn't be able to if they weren't acting as if they were completely smitten with each other. 

Whilst for the first part of the day it hadn't been put into practice all that much, seeing as they had been exhausted following their flight and had subsequently ended up taking a nap together to get their energy back, it had ended up playing a huge role when it came to their dinner arrangements. Both had dressed up in something semi-formal and if Seungcheol was being absolutely honest with himself, he was certainly attracted to Jeonghan when he was wearing a button up shirt and slim fit trousers. It complimented his figure well and made it feel as if they were actually going on a dinner date together.

They had gone to the restaurant as it was getting dark and were seated outside at a small table, which was reasonably far away from other people but close enough to the restaurant for them to get anything they needed taken to them without having to leave their table to find a member of staff. The table had been set up so that they had a view of the beach and was lit by the warm glow of candles. As cliche as the whole scene seemed, it felt incredibly romantic to be able to spend private time with Jeonghan in a more public setting. There were just enough candles to light up their features without bringing in too much light, and it brought along the promise of relaxation as soon as they were seated.

Seungcheol had been surprised by the amount they still had to talk about, despite spending three months straight learning everything about each other. It had been a pleasant surprise nonetheless, but he quickly came to realise that his first unofficial date was becoming the best date that he'd ever been on. He and Jeonghan clicked; there was no doubt about it. From soft smiles and shared laughs to flirtily sharing food, it became increasingly obvious that they worked well together.

That was probably why they were able to convincingly play the part of an actual couple. They _worked_ , and the snippets of romance that they shared were parallel to those moments shared by newlyweds.

The dinner had finished with one shared dessert, which Seungcheol was rather thrilled about, and they had ended up feeding each other on more than one occasion. It didn't feel like either of them was feeling obliged to upkeep the image of being married as they teased each other with spoonfuls of ice cream and syrup, and it had resulted in more laughs being shared between them. Seungcheol found that he liked everything about Jeonghan's laugh, from the way it sounded to the way that his eyes crinkled and cheeks grew full when it happened. There was something about the way it was so unbelievably genuine that left his heart soft, so he made it his personal mission to draw at least one laugh out of him every day that they were together.

The date night had eventually continued past the dinner and through to the beach nearby once they had finished eating. Jeonghan had been concerned about sand getting in their shoes, so they had ended up walking barefoot together, hand in hand. As much as Seungcheol usually preferred to walk quickly to get to wherever he was heading, Jeonghan favoured taking it slow instead, so they ended up slowing it down completely and focusing on chatting rather than the actual walk.

"Do you think we're responding to this situation appropriately?" Jeonghan asked after a while. The question had come during a quiet period and for a moment Seungcheol was concerned that he was already reconsidering going away with him, but it was soon followed by gentle hand strokes to comfort that little niggle in his mind.  
"To what situation?"  
"Well," he breathed, leaving a long pause to gather his thoughts, "You said that your relationship with her was based around a bad situation. Do you think we're doing the same?"

He chewed delicately at the skin of his lips as he thought it over a bit. As far as he was concerned, it wasn't quite the same context. Sure, his wedding day had completely fallen apart, but that had been his own fault in the end. It wasn't as sudden as the funeral of a man who had passed away unexpectedly; if Seungcheol was being completely honest with himself, he probably knew from around three days before the wedding that it was going to end up being too much to handle. He had foolishly tried to push through with it, figuring that he would feel better once it was over and done with, but it had fallen through because he had tried to push his concerns through to his sub-conscious thoughts and had inevitably failed at doing so.

Sure, it could have been the case that Jeonghan was serving as a sort of rebound, but deep down he didn't quite think that was the case. That was why he wasn't prepared to rush into anything permanent with him; it would be easy enough to do so, considering their little fling and the fact that they had still kissed when they were sober, but kissing and flings didn't always mean that they would be compatible in an actual relationship. That way, they were able to spare both of their feelings if it wasn't going to work out and would save a situation in which they tried to force it to work even though it wasn't going to end up becoming something healthy for both parties.

Seungcheol made sure to tell his friend that, and he was pleased to see that Jeonghan appeared to be content with the answer. "I'm supposing that you're probably looking to stay as good friends throughout this, then?"  
"And what would make you say that?" It wasn't intended to sound as if he wanted more, but it had seemingly come out in that sort of way. Seungcheol immediately kicked himself when the words came out and started to apologise and explain himself, but Jeonghan was quick to jump in and stop him.

"Don't worry, I know what you mean," he smiled, "What I'm trying to say is that this isn't a fairytale and it's not suddenly happily ever after, where we suddenly fall hopelessly in love and elope in spite of everything falling apart around us. I can imagine that you probably want a few months to yourself without romance, huh?"

"Not necessarily. I think there's time to wait before getting serious and settling down with someone, but I'm quite fond of the idea of new love," Seungcheol admitted quietly. He had tried to be confident to start with, but his words were brittle if nothing else; it wasn't really something that he wanted to admit to Jeonghan so soon into their romance, but he supposed that it would eventually come out anyway. If his friend was uncomfortable with it, they could easily break it off without either being so attached that it would cause long-lasting pain.

Yet, he seemed to be relatively on board with the idea. They shared a mutual agreement to take things slowly, choosing to refrain from even using words to define their relationship until they were both absolutely sure that it was the right decision for them, and frankly it just gave rise to an even more relaxed environment for both men.

Eventually, they made it back to the cabin. Seungcheol had been eager to get back inside so that they could spend more time enjoying each other's company away from the rest of the world, but his friend simply stood in front of the door and raised an eyebrow.  
"Aren't you going to kiss me on my doorstep?" There was a mischievous flair to the way that Jeonghan asked the question, and Seungcheol couldn't help but laugh.  
"It's my doorstep, too, and you know what'll probably happen if you invite me in after we share a kiss."

It was a risk that Jeonghan was willing to take, or so he said. Seungcheol had to admit that the atmosphere was definitely one of romance, and it was only made more tempting by Jeonghan's tone. He made a point of taking it slowly, spending some time to brush a hand through Jeonghan's hair and cup his chin before making his move. Even the lean in was painfully slow so that when they finally made contact, Jeonghan completely melted against his lips.

That was the sort of romance that Seungcheol had been longing for for years. It was the sort of innocent but playful thing that his younger self had never really considered doing, but something that left him loving every second. It felt as if it was straight out of a romantic teen movie, and even though they weren't quite teenagers anymore, an instant feeling of freshness washed over him from the moment that they touched.

As expected, they had continued as soon as the door was opened. This situation was almost parallel to their affair in the hotel room but nowhere near as desperate; he lifted Jeonghan onto his waist just the same, but he began to spin in circles as soon as they kissed again until they were dizzily falling back onto the bed. This time was more sweet than passionate, with both men simply holding each other as soon as the kiss broke for the first time. Eye contact lingered and fingertips brushed over cheeks and it was so loving that neither particularly wanted to move.

The rest of the honeymoon had progressed in a similar manner. As much as Seungcheol could act as if he didn't want things between them to move too fast, he was rather thrilled by the way that he and Jeonghan comfortably shared romantic moments throughout their time away together. They were able to share a bed and cuddle every night, and there was something truly amazing about waking to see Jeonghan's sleeping face.

It left him wondering, on occasion, why he'd never considered having a relationship like that with other men before. In the past, he had found that he struggled to be himself in the early stages of relationships with women, since he was always worried about accidentally saying something wrong and upsetting them, but he found that it was easy enough to play around with Jeonghan and mock themselves and each other without worrying that it would cause harm. At the very most, his friend would playfully shove him and it would result in more joking from there.

It was a strange concept to Seungcheol. Another key difference between his relationship with Jeonghan and any girl he'd dated in the past was that he could stand to be around him a lot so early on. He'd found that for the most part, he really liked his space and looked forward to his time alone, but they had easily made it through the honeymoon without him really needing that time for himself. It didn't really matter so much whether they were talking or sat in silence, touching or just sat near to each other and minding their own business; it was like having a best friend who he could be romantic towards, and that was sort of something that he'd never really considered for a relationship before. Now that he thought about it, he decided that it was probably the way he wanted things to be when it came to his romantic relationships, since it seemed like the obvious way to make things comfortable in the long run.

Honestly, he would have been happy to stay there forever with Jeonghan. They were away from the stresses of daily life back home, and away from everything that they had to face when they got back. It was almost a given that their parents wouldn't be happy about how they left everything in pieces back home, plus there was still the chance of having to come in contact with Seungcheol's ex fiancee again when they returned.

Admittedly, it hadn't exactly been the best time to leave the country, but Seungcheol hadn't been willing to waste the money that he'd spent on the honeymoon by staying in Korea to straighten things out. At the very least, it had been a few weeks for them to completely relax without having to worry about what was there to face them when they returned home.

In comparison, the foundations of his and Jeonghan's relationship were far better than those of his with his ex fiancee. Whilst it had been built over the broken remains of his failed relationship, it had also been built in a stress-free environment, where they could share mutual affection and allow their relationship to move as quickly or slowly as they felt was appropriate. There was no longer the pressure to marry within a certain length of time, as Jeonghan had admitted that he probably wouldn't even consider marriage until at least four years into a relationship, and there was definitely no way they'd be able to try for children before they were fully prepared for a family. There was nothing to say that they had to have an elaborate wedding, and nothing to say that they even had to go public with their feelings for each other.

It was perfect, as far as Seungcheol was concerned. That period spent together had pretty much confirmed it in his mind, so there was absolutely no struggle in the end to ask the question that had been on his mind since they had arrived.

They were at the airport in Shanghai at the time, having already made it through the majority of their journey. There was around a four hour wait between landing and leaving for Seoul, so they had made a point of getting something to eat and sitting together for a while to relax before their final flight. Seungcheol's parents had agreed to pick them up from the airport, which was probably going to be awkward all in all, and so that had been the topic of discussion for a little while. For the most part, he tried to direct the conversation towards the topic he needed in order to ask his question, but it hadn't been quite as easy as he had imagined in his head.

"It's going to suck getting back into Korea. I'm certain that my boss is going to know that I essentially ruined a client's wedding by running off with her fiance, and we're both going to have a bit of storm ahead, aren't we?" Jeonghan asked as he ran a hand through his hair.  
Seungcheol wrapped his arm around his friend and pressed a delicate kiss to his temple as he tried to show his support as best as possible. "It doesn't necessarily have to be bad, though," he pointed out, although he was immediately met with a skeptical eyebrow raise from the moment that the words surfaced.

"I don't really know what could make it _not_ bad, really. We're not going to be met with open arms and a 'welcome home' cake, Seungcheol." It was a serious comment, but he couldn't help but find it amusing.  
"I'd be concerned if we _were_ met by any sort of party, considering everything that's happened. But there is something that _could_ make it at least a little bit more tolerable if you're willing to give it a shot?"  
Jeonghan seemed wary when he asked the question. His eyes narrowed a little and he waited for Seungcheol to continue without another word, and after a dramatic pause, he chose to finally ask that question.

"Would you consider completely ruining our chances of redemption by being my boyfriend?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sort of wanted to finish on a softer, more fluffy note seeing as for the most part my fiction ends up with final chapter drama, so here's to a cute ending where everyone's happy!!
> 
> Honestly I think it was probably a much needed thing to watch Seungcheol falling for Jeonghan in a setting that's supposed to enhance feelings of love and affection, so hopefully it works as a satisfying ending to have them away from stresses for a while~
> 
> As a little bonus, though, the topic for the next part of the series (Seungkwan/Hansol) is Idol and Fan - another one that we wrote about exclusively for around four days straight.
> 
> Thank you for reading, as always!! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Here's to the first part of the series!! I've randomised the order of the fanfics, so the rest of the series will be in the following order:
> 
> * Seungkwan/Hansol  
> * Junhui/Minghao  
> * Seokmin/Soonyoung  
> * Wonwoo/Mingyu  
> * Jihoon/Chan
> 
> Each will be three chapters long and around 10,000 words in total, although I won't reveal what each one is about until the end of the one before it. Hopefully this is a good start to this one as an establishing chapter, but it's due to all blow up soon so lease be ready for more!!
> 
> Thank you for reading as always!! <3


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